Linguistics Final

Free Morpheme

Can be used as words all by themselves

Bound Morpheme

Cannot stand alone as words

Derivational

When words are made up of smaller parts but create different words

Inflectional

When words are made up from smaller parts and you can regularly predict the meaning

• -s

• -ed

• -en

• -er

• -est

• -ing

Affixation

Prefix, suffix, and circumfixes

Example = Reread, unhappy, joyful

Compounding

Example for Free Morphemes = girlfriend, blackbird, textbook

Examples for Affixed Words = air-conditioner, ironing board, watchmaker

Examples for Compounded Words = lifeguard chair, aircraft carrier, life-insurance salesman

Reduplication

Example = Hush-hush, zigzag, and chit-chat

Alternation

Singular and Plural

Past Tense

Example = Sing → Sang and Foot → Feet

Infixation

When an infix is inserted inside of the root morpheme

Example = Absofreakinglutely

Arguments

When the presence of one expression requires another

Adjuncts

An expression whose occurrence in a sentence is optional

Clefting

A sentence where some constituent is moved to the left and takes the form “It was X that Y” or “It is X that Y”

Example = The cat was sleeping on the desk → It was on the desk that the cat was sleeping

Substitution

Replacing that constituent with a pronoun (she/he/they/one/there/then) or proverb (do, so, be, have)

Example = The cat slept on the table → the cat slept there

Answers to Questions

You turn the sentence into a question for which the constituent can be the answer

Example = What was sleeping on the desk? → The cat

Noun Phrase

Pronouns and names

Example = she, he, and Sally

Noun

Person, place, idea, or thing

Example = cat, city, and umbrella

Determiner

Occurs before a noun

Example = the, every, and this

Adjective

Occurs between a determiner and a noun or a noun and an adjunct

Definition = Modifies or describes a noun or pronoun

Example = cute, fluffy, and gray

Verb Phrase

Action or being

Example = slept, passed, and ate

Transitive Verb

Verb that requires one or more objects to complete its meaning

Example = liked, devoured, smelled, and thought

Ditransitive Verb

A verb that takes two objects, typically a direct object and an indirect object

Example = gave, sent, gave, and loved

Sentential Complement Verb

A verb that takes a clause as its object, conveying the content of a statement or belief

Example = believed, know, and said

Adverb

Is the way an action is being done and normally has -ly at the end

Example = fast, quickly, tomorrow, yesterday, and passionately

Preposition

Connecting word. Placed before a noun or pronoun

Example = at, for, with, into, on, in, and under

Sense

The mental representation of meaning or the concept

Example = “frogs” are green hoppy animals that can swim

Reference

The relation of the sense to the outside world (a collection of all the referents)

Example = “Gold” and the actual substance of a gold bar

Particular Entity

Refers to a single, unique, and specific thing or individual

Example = What is the reference of Taylor Swift? → The actual or physical pop star named Taylor Swift

Set of entities

Refers to a category, class, or group of things

Example = What/Who is green? → The set of things in the world which are green

Proposition

Declarative sentence that expresses a complete thought and can be assigned a truth value

Truth Conditions

The circumstances under which the proposition would be true. Has to be a full sentence

Example = “the sky is blue” is true only if the sky is actually blue at that time and place

Pure Intersection

Occurs when the meaning of a phrase is the intersection of two sets

Example = Yellow birds → The bird is yellow, and it is a bird

Relative Intersection

Occurs when the adjective’s meaning depends on the noun it modifies

Example = Big toaster → “Big” is relative to typical size but is not absolute